High Integrity Pressure Protection Systems (HIPPS) are commonly known Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) for preventing unsafe conditions caused by a downstream pressure rising in a pipeline. HIPPS valves require a high level of reliability and shall be designed to close the pipeline in any condition when required. When a critical downstream pressure is sensed, the final element (valve) is closed to prevent further pressurization of the downstream pipeline. The known HIPPS valve have an external actuator, these actuators often use springs/hydraulics and are very large to ensure sufficient safety to be able to close the valve at any condition. These external actuators could fail resulting in a loss of actuation force.
In related art, DE 25 17 730 A1 suggests an ON/OFF-valve to be closed by upstream pressure. However, this known valve is not usable for including into an HIPPS without substantial modifications, in particular to the valve seat and to the sealing element, as enhancement for the typically high pressure levels in a pipeline.